Ex-Morgan Stanley Exec Gets 9 Months for Corruption – and more of Today’s China Real Estate Links | August 20, 2012

Here is a list of the day’s latest China real estate news collected from around the web:

• Ex-Morgan Stanley Exec Gets 9 Months for Corruption

  Ex-Morgan Stanley & Co. real estate executive Garth R. Peterson was sentenced to nine months in prison for transferring multi-million dollar interests in a Shanghai building from his employer to himself and a Chinese official. Peterson, 43, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein in Brooklyn, New York, for conspiring to circumvent internal bank controls required under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. He faced as long as five years in prison.

• China H2 trade outlook severe, inward investment slows

  China’s trade outlook for 2012 is worsening, darkened especially by growing problems in Europe, the Commerce Ministry said on Thursday as it revealed the longest run of falling inward investment growth in the economy since the 2008-09 global crisis. The ministry singled out problems in the European Union – China’s biggest overseas market – as the core difficulty for exporters to overcome as it published data showing foreign direct investment (FDI) from the EU fell 2.7 percent year on year to $4.0 billion in the first seven months of 2012.

• China New-Home Prices Rebound in More Cities After Rate Cuts

  China’s July housing data showed prices of new homes rose in the largest number of cities in 14 months, as sentiment improved after interest rate cuts and incentives for first-time buyers. Prices climbed from a month earlier in 49 of the 70 cities tracked by the government, the National Bureau of Statistics said on its website today. That was the most since May last year and compared with 25 cities in June. Prices fell in nine cities and were unchanged in 12.

• Developer SOHO China H1 Results Disappoint

  SOHO China Ltd (0410.HK), Beijing’s largest real estate developer, unveiled a sharp fall in first-half results according to the results report posted by the Hong Kong Exchanges Thursday.The industry leader produced a turnover of 1.22 billion yuan ($0.19 billion) in the first six months, decreased 54 percent year on year, while the net profit was 0.61 billion yuan.

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